AFTER the fishing ban and a long weekend, the Port MacDonnell Sailing Club was able to resume racing on Saturday.
With only one more weekend of the sailing now left for the season, race officer Mack Ferguson was eager to fit as many races as possible into the penultimate event.
He and committee boat driver, John Kain, set a traditional triangle – loop – triangle course and in the 12-14 knot winds, it was a short course which allowed multiple races to be undertaken.
Austral20 Farr-mer, skippered by Dave Evans, had the best start of the five-boat fleet in race one, starting ahead of Noelex The Right Hand, skippered by Tom Paltridge.
The boats spread out as they raced around the course, with Farr-mer and The Right Hand embroiled iun a good tussle.
However, Billy 2, with Nick Watson on board, was able to take and hold the lead and finished the race in first place, ahead of Don McLennan’s Sonata Sport Harmony.
With wind conditions unchanging for the start of the second race, Farr-mer was able to get the best position to start, with The Right Hand close behind.
Despite being slow to start, Billy 2 took the lead, leaving the rest of the fleet behind.
The remaining four boats stayed close together and all converged at the bottom buoy at approximately the same time.
Billy 2 was able to hold on to the lead and took line honours, well in front of The Right Hand.
The wind speed picked up over the course of race two, but returned to 12-13 knots for the start of race three.
Once more Farr-mer was the first boat to cross the start line.
Harmony was close behind and started the race in second position.
The four trailable yachts seemed evenly matched as they stayed together and raced around the course, with the smaller catamaran Billy 2 out in front by half a leg, eventually taking line honours again, with The Right Hand in second place.
The final race of the day had similar wind and sea conditions to the previous races.
By now Farr-mer had worked out how to start and once more crossed the start in first place.
However Noelex Sandrine, with Chris Lynch at the helm, crossed the start second.
The slow start did not matter to Billy 2, who sped around the course and had a flying finish to the last race.
Sandrine was able to hold onto the lead over the other trailable boats and was the second boat to cross the finish line.
Race Results
Race 1: Billy 2 (N. Watson); Harmony (D. McLennan, M. Matuschta, A. Romescu); The Right Hand (T. Paltridge, S. Dyble, L. Paltridge); Sandrine (C. Lynch, D. Bryson); Farr-mer (D. Evans, J. Jones, D. McMahon).
Race 2: Billy 2; The Right Hand; Harmony; Sandrine; Farr-mer.
Race 3: Billy 2; The Right Hand; Sandrine; Harmony; Farr-mer.
Race 4: Sandrine; Harmony; Billy 2; The Right Hand; Farr-mer.
